1" ball clamps

[Johno1530]

Hi All, 

 

Just wondering if all 1" ball clamps are made equally? Or is there a difference between say ultralight, nauticam or a cheaper non brand. 

 

Thanks

 

John 

[TimG]

Members have noticed slight differences. It might be better to try and stick with one make if you can. 

[Johno1530]

42 minutes ago, TimG said:

Members have noticed slight differences. It might be better to try and stick with one make if you can. 

It's more just if the more expensive ones are better. Nauticam £30± but the PULUZ ones are £7.

[TimG]

Hey Johno

 

i think there are only a couple of areas of u/w equipment purchasing where you only need to buy once. Arms and clamps are one of very few. Buy once, buy well.
 

Tempting though it is to get Amazon’s best, I’d advise against it strongly. I bought ULCS in 1999. I still have them all, they work perfectly and never a blip. It was money well spent - unlike some of my u/w investments.  I’ve bought a couple of cheap clamps a couple of times. Maybe good for a short time but nothing like the quality or longevity of ULCS. And, if you look at second hand prices of ULCS, they hold their value way better than the rest of the gear we use!

 

 

[ChipBPhoto]

2 hours ago, TimG said:

i think there are only a couple of areas of u/w equipment purchasing where you only need to buy once. Arms and clamps are one of very few. Buy once, buy well.

1,000% agree!  It hurts (financially) to get into UW photography, but once you bite the bullet on certain items, you have them forever.  I tend to buy brand names such as Nauticam, ULCS, etc.

 

Yes, they’re making a nice profit margin to cover their R&D costs, but as a general rule they wouldn’t put their name on junk.  My opinion is you’re rolling the dice with off-brands.  

May work; may not work.  I’d rather not find out on a trip. 
 

[humu9679]

3 hours ago, Johno1530 said:

It's more just if the more expensive ones are better. Nauticam £30± but the PULUZ ones are £7.

Nauticam's are top notch, but you can split the difference and get Ultra Light (ULCS). Haven't tried Puluz. Also, you can change the o rings on both Nauticam and ULCS balls when they wear out. ULCS dimensions are: off the shelf: Buna size 2-209, or Danco #95 15/16 x 11/16 x 1/8. For the style afficionados here, Nauticams are a nice blue color.

[TimG]

Chip made an excellent suggestion in another post about having a pair of the longer clamps to use with arms fitted with Stix. 
 

I don’t have these for my system but if I was starting from scratch I’d have two for connecting the pairs of arms fitted with Stix. 
 

I don’t think you need them for the other connections. 

[Johno1530]

4 hours ago, TimG said:

Hey Johno

 

i think there are only a couple of areas of u/w equipment purchasing where you only need to buy once. Arms and clamps are one of very few. Buy once, buy well.
 

Tempting though it is to get Amazon’s best, I’d advise against it strongly. I bought ULCS in 1999. I still have them all, they work perfectly and never a blip. It was money well spent - unlike some of my u/w investments.  I’ve bought a couple of cheap clamps a couple of times. Maybe good for a short time but nothing like the quality or longevity of ULCS. And, if you look at second hand prices of ULCS, they hold their value way better than the rest of the gear we use!

 

 

Thanks Tim, 

 

To be honest, I bought some 'Kit dive' ones and fine them a bit difficult to use and unless you tighten them to within an inch of their lives they are a bit slack. 

 

I'll take your advice and go for some ultralight or nauticam ones 👍

[Johno1530]

1 hour ago, humu9679 said:

Nauticam's are top notch, but you can split the difference and get Ultra Light (ULCS). Haven't tried Puluz. Also, you can change the o rings on both Nauticam and ULCS balls when they wear out. ULCS dimensions are: off the shelf: Buna size 2-209, or Danco #95 15/16 x 11/16 x 1/8. For the style afficionados here, Nauticams are a nice blue color.

Thanks Craig, I'll go with the Nauticam's I think, it will bring the blue out in my eyes 😂

[Davide DB]

Same advice here.

Lately I bought on Ali a couple of no brand clamps and for the first time they are not too bad.

I have some  Nauticam clamps and during the years I collected clamps of different brands and I mix them without paying attention.

When I move and adjust the arms underwater I can tell which Nauticams are without looking, only by how smoothly and precisely they adjust.

[bghazzal]

Agree with all the above. And keep in mind that all "cheaper" clamps are not made equal.

Speaking from experience, do stay away from non-branded generic products.
The alloys (?) / material and sheer design of the super-cheap generic ones will lead problems after a while (corrosion, fusion of screw / washer elements etc) as they are not made of the proper material for salt-water use.

Be very very careful with these, wash, vinegar, lubricate (WD40) regularly and never ever leave them tightened for extended periods of time (or you might have to hacksaw it...)

 

Overall, best stay away unless you're ok with "disposable" clamps for experimenting / testing your setup (especially floats), and then get properly made ones as soon as that's settled.

 

What you can also do is stay away from the cheapest-generic ones and get intermediate branded ones like Kraken, Weefine, Big Blue, Carbonarm instead...
These might not be as solid as ULCS or Nauticam, but are roughly half the price, design is coherent, and they offer options sometimes not available in Nauticam (open clamps, especially 4 or 3 ball open-ended clamps, which are super useful for some applications...).
If necessary, you can upgrade these gradually once your kit is set.

 

That said, carbon-fiber floatation arms don't seem to have the same issues. I've been using a Puluz 900gm float and other generic floats for a few years now and they're perfectly fine.
There are no-moving parts, and other than the rubber ring wearing down (you get spares with Puluz) especially when usign open-clamps, there have been no issues whatsoever with the carbon arms (cracks, etc) - as new.
So this piece of kit might not be as critical.
Just look for proper buoyancy data and brands that label their products (Puluz does), as most online vendors will have no clue as to what they are selling...

 

cheers

 

ben

Edited July 14 by bghazzal

[Griffer]

20 hours ago, TimG said:

Chip made an excellent suggestion in another post about having a pair of the longer clamps to use with arms fitted with Stix. 
 

I don’t have these for my system but if I was starting from scratch I’d have a pay for connecting the pairs of arms fitted with Stix. 
 

I don’t think you need them for the other connections. 

These are the Nautical ones i use they make all the difference when you have Stix floats fitted 

[humu9679]

14 hours ago, bghazzal said:

That said, carbon-fiber floatation arms don't seem to have the same issues. I've been using a Puluz 900gm float and other generic floats for a few years now and they're perfectly fine.
There are no-moving parts, and other than the rubber ring wearing down (you get spares with Puluz) especially when usign open-clamps, there have been no issues whatsoever with the carbon arms (cracks, etc) - as new.

I did have a pair of Nauticam float arms that failed several years ago, but I think that was one of the early generations. I believe Nauticam has some kind of warranty now.

[Johno1530]

On 7/14/2024 at 3:53 PM, Griffer said:

These are the Nautical ones i use they make all the difference when you have Stix floats fitted 

Thanks for the photo. Do you use both? Stix and float. 

[Johno1530]

On 7/14/2024 at 3:48 AM, bghazzal said:

Agree with all the above. And keep in mind that all "cheaper" clamps are not made equal.

Speaking from experience, do stay away from non-branded generic products.
The alloys (?) / material and sheer design of the super-cheap generic ones will lead problems after a while (corrosion, fusion of screw / washer elements etc) as they are not made of the proper material for salt-water use.

Be very very careful with these, wash, vinegar, lubricate (WD40) regularly and never ever leave them tightened for extended periods of time (or you might have to hacksaw it...)

 

Overall, best stay away unless you're ok with "disposable" clamps for experimenting / testing your setup (especially floats), and then get properly made ones as soon as that's settled.

 

What you can also do is stay away from the cheapest-generic ones and get intermediate branded ones like Kraken, Weefine, Big Blue, Carbonarm instead...
These might not be as solid as ULCS or Nauticam, but are roughly half the price, design is coherent, and they offer options sometimes not available in Nauticam (open clamps, especially 4 or 3 ball open-ended clamps, which are super useful for some applications...).
If necessary, you can upgrade these gradually once your kit is set.

 

That said, carbon-fiber floatation arms don't seem to have the same issues. I've been using a Puluz 900gm float and other generic floats for a few years now and they're perfectly fine.
There are no-moving parts, and other than the rubber ring wearing down (you get spares with Puluz) especially when usign open-clamps, there have been no issues whatsoever with the carbon arms (cracks, etc) - as new.
So this piece of kit might not be as critical.
Just look for proper buoyancy data and brands that label their products (Puluz does), as most online vendors will have no clue as to what they are selling...

 

cheers

 

ben

Thanks Ben, 

 

Appreciate the reply. Think I will go with a good set and get Puluz as a back up 👍

[Griffer]

26 minutes ago, Johno1530 said:

Thanks for the photo. Do you use both? Stix and float. 

Hi John ,i use the Stix floats but i don't like the Stix arms as you can see in the photograph my arm are slightly bigger but the STIX floats have different insets 

[Mark H]

My personal experience is different, it seems. I better say, I'm not a mega super photographer 😃, just a dabbler. I bought a number of arms and clamps from Aliexpress and tried them out. I've found them to be just as good as the Sea&Sea arms I had previously. I wash them the same as any other bits of my camera gear, I've not sprayed the clamp screws with WD40 (interesting) and they still look like new 4 years later. Whether they will get much worse over time I don't know! I'd been using Sea&Sea since 2007 and they worked well enough. The newer arms and clamps work just as well but cost an absolute fraction of the cost of the Sea&Sea ones or the ULCS.

 

This all said, I operate my diving and photography on a budget far below what others in the hobby do. I'm still using a D500 and two YS-D1 s. If you can afford the ULCS why not, everyone I've met likes them. I've never seen them perform better than my arms but hey, people with greater experience and knowledge say they do. I guess I'm a tesco wine person and others are much more discerning. I'm happy with my budget range and while I understand the points being made, I've not found that buying cheaper is always the worst option. All the arms I bought came with spare O-rings but as of yet they haven't needed replacing. Maybe they will in another 5 years but then O-rings are cheap enough.

 

 Maybe it is I just don't dive the as much as others. I only managed just over 100 sea dives last year. Most of that was in the UK and some out of rhibs. Things get very bashed up on rhibs unless one is very careful and many times on UK hardboats no-one will hand dive gear down. So my kit doesn't get easy use.

 

Just a different view. Others know much more about all this than I do.

 

 

Edited July 19 by Mark H

[bvanant]

I suspect that most arms will work as well as any other, perhaps the anodization will be less robust, but for clamps I have a bunch of ULCS clamps now more than 15 years old and always perfect. I did get some cheap ALI clamps that were terrible, the edges were so sharp that they scratched the balls and cut the orings and didn't hold unless they were really tightened down.

Bill